A friend and I were discussing pheromones and we agreed that one thing that really needed to be “tested” was how acute human smell was… We do know that the sense of smell in humans is much, much less acute than in many other animals — dogs for example.

Can Humans Detect Pheromones?

However, we could not find good information that would help us determine if, when in a group of people, someone wearing pheromone cologne could truly be singled out by others as the “source” of the scent. The pheromone forums are full of people claiming to have experienced glances from across a crowded room — a ‘pheromone hit’ as it is called.​But is this even possible? Can the average person’s sense of smell really detect pheromones (or even a cologne scent) from across the room? Can a person really tell WHO is the source of the fragrance in a crowded place without close investigation?

My Pheromone Experiment

This was the subject of our very casual pheromone experiment. We gathered together 17 people at our local community center for a game-night. People were not getting together, as far as they knew, for any experimental purpose. The community room we were in was small. I am not sure of the exact dimensions but 17 people, myself included, packed the room quite nicely.​Before the games began we all were standing around and talking with each other. I was wearing a product called Amour Devil and my friend John was wearing some Instant Shine. I must say we were both pretty aromatic… Phew! John and I were at the entrance talking to each other and all of the other “unsuspecting 15″ were in the room. John, on cue, asked, “what smells like perfume?” Learn more at http://baids.org

First Impressions

Without hesitation, one of the guests who was nearest to us pointed at me. Clearly, he could smell the aroma was coming from our direction. But he didn’t seem to notice two distinct odors… Rather just a general fragrance coming from our direction. I believe since it was John who asked the question he assumed it must be me who was fragrant.

Interestingly, Peggy, who was clear across the room said: “oh, you probably smell me, I am wearing…” Honestly, I cannot remember what she said she was wearing. Anyway, I then have everyone sit down — it was time for the games to begin! Yes, we were really there to play games; not just to do pheromone studies.

We sat down and John and I sat at the “head” of the table. It was a large rectangular table and could fit three seats across the head. John and I were the only two seated there. I then explained that John and I were both wearing new colognes and we wanted to know which one people preferred…?

Pheromone Experiment Results

Here is the interesting thing. Although John and I were about 2 feet apart, everyone who decided to chime-on which of our scents they preferred got up and came in for a “closeup” smell. Even after I clumsily claimed, “you don’t need to get up and smell our necks!” It seems they needed to get in close to separate one smell from the other. A few people even said this…

In the end, most people liked the smell of the Instant Shine better. However, it seemed apparent from our casual non-scientific pheromone experiment that, from a distance, they were both unable to determine a distinction between the two aromas and they were unable to tell who was wearing which. Learn more at http://astrobiosociety.orgAlthough this is FAR from a conclusive experiment, it does seem to suggest that people’s sense of smell might not be discerning and accurate enough to detect a human pheromone cologne wearer from across a crowded room.